I woke up to a commotion outside the tent. I looked over to where Beatra slept; she seemed to be back in bed. I got dressed and went outside to see what was going on. Palleas stood there talking to a boy.

"Ezailia! Excuse me." He pushed the groggy boy aside. "I've been trying to get to you. I didn't see you or Beatra at breakfast, so I got worried."

"I am fine. I must have overslept." I explained.

He nodded then stopped. "Oh I almost forgot! Trogan snuck off someplace, last night. I saw him leave his post."

Palleas had seen too.

"I know."

He tilted his head at me.

"You saw too?"

"Well, Beatra disappeared too," I whispered. "They met up-"

Palleas' eyes widened. He held out his hand to stop me, took me by my hand and led me through the camp until we reach Carther and the others.

"Tell them," Palleas demanded.

"Beatra met up with Trogan last night."

"How do you know?" Carther asked me.

"Because I followed her."

Kelrith and Palleas shook their heads.

"That's not a smart idea." Bargonaan scolded.

"Oh hush, old man!" Carther glared.

I told them what I saw and heard. They all seemed to think for a minute.

"I knew she wasn't to be trusted," Kelrith claimed. "You should try to see what she is after!"

"No, that would put her in possible danger, you fool." Carther knocked Kelrith on the head. "It is best if you stay away from her, Ezailia. Otherwise, you might find yourself in something too big to escape."

I nodded at his warning.

The horns went off signaling for us to join our daily groups. We separated and I found my way to Trogan's group. Beatra was there. I joined her. She smiled.

The whole group moseyed up to a jog. Trogan eyed Beatra and me as we passed him. Beatra purposely avoided his gaze. I gave a sarcastic wave to Trogan.

"Fine. I want a full sprint. You can thank Ezailia for that." He smiled devilishly at me. Everyone groaned, including Beatra.

As we ran I could tell it took Beatra more effort to keep up with me. I tried to slow my pace for her momentarily but eventually, I'm sure we would get in trouble for it.

"What's wrong?" I said once Trogan was out of range. Anxiously I waited.

"Nothing, I'm just tired."

As we ran my eyes drifted to her bouncing hair. Behind the strands, on the side of her neck was a dark bruise. Beatra caught my gaze. Her hand jumped to the bruise. She looked away, eyes glossed.

"Bea-"

"Beatra, Ezailia!" Trogan gestured for us to stop running.

I cursed under my breath.

He walked over to us.

"Do we have a problem with our legs ladies?" Beatra looked at him, eyes sharp. As did I. Trogan flicked his eyes over to me.

"That's what I thought. I would love to make an example of you two to everyone here, however, I am tired and I have one hell of a headache. So please get back to running so we can be done with this."

I chuckled.

"Maybe you should get some sleep at night instead of taking advantage of others!" The words flew out of my mouth before I could stop myself. He squinted his eyes at me then looked over at Beatra.

Slap.

Trogan's hand struck Beatra's face.

"How dare you!" Words escaped his curled lip.

"You think I said something?" She spat at his feet.

"No, she didn't have to say anything to me. You make too much noise."

Trogan threw me to the ground and drew his sword. Everyone stopped jogging.

"Wait." Beatra nodded over to everyone watching.

"Did you know that as a Royal I can accidentally kill you and not get penalized?"

"KuRath would have your head." Beatra stepped forward out in front of me.

Trogan laughed but didn't argue.

"Are you sure you want to protect her? Might get you in trouble." He smiled a toothy grin.

"She was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. That's not her fault."

Trogan slowly paced back and forth, occasionally eyeing me down.

"Since when did that ever matter?"

"It's always mattered to me."

He laughed.

"Perhaps you should rethink." Trogan shrugged. "If KuRath finds out-"

"That what? I've done nothing wrong."

Something was going on. I had a weird feeling that the conversation topic had changed at some point. Their words aligned to the topic but their meanings pointed in a different direction. What was I missing? Was this still about me?

"Perhaps you haven't done anything wrong, but she has." Trogan's eyes darted back to me.

"You were out past curfew too." I stood back up. Had he forgotten that he was the one that was seen?

"Ezailia." Beatra turned her head just enough to get a peek at me. Her eyes were cold with warning. I chose to ignore it. She might be afraid of him, but I was not.

"Apparently, I'm not the only one who saw you guys sneak out." I looked over at Palleas and the group. "And if I am correct, deals not relating to a fight are punishable as well."

"Tsk. Tsk." Trogan walked up to Beatra who still stood in the way. "As a Royal I can do anything I want. That includes requesting an audience with anyone. However, I don't think I asked you or your friends." He nodded back at Palleas and the others. "As to this deal you are referring to, I know of no such thing." He shrugged behind a smirk. "You can run and tattle first if you'd like but I can't say anyone would believe you. However, if I were to tell the brothers of what you've admitted to they would be far from thrilled. You forget your place, girl. You are nobody."

I had to do something. I had been the one to open my mouth. I couldn't get the others in trouble for my stupid mistake. There had to be another way around this. Think Emilea. What can you do to stop this in its tracks? Lie? No. Apologize? Definitely not. Improvise? Yes. I couldn't get all of us out of this mess but perhaps I could help the others. It was a shot in the dark, but I would have to try and bait Trogan into taking some sort of bet.

"But you wouldn't tell the Brothers. That's not what you want." I set the bait.

Beatra sighed and Trogan tilted his head.

"Oh? It isn't?"

"That wouldn't be satisfying to you."

Beatra turned sharply and brought herself inches from me.

"Stop talking. You are going to get yourself killed. And for what? Them?" She nodded over to the others.

"Are you seriously going to let someone like him control you? Why are you afraid of him?"

"Um hello?" She grabbed me and pushed me towards him. "Have you seen him? Have you not been listening to any of my warnings? He kills people for fun. Apologize and take whatever punishment he gives you."

"What?" She wanted me to grovel to this man? Yes he was almost twice as large as me but if Debynn taught me anything, it was that size didn't matter. For the most part.

"I am trying to help you." Beatra hissed.

"If she wants to have a go let her."

"You asked for it." Beatra shook her head and stepped aside. Now it was my turn.

"How about we settle this in the arena." I let the words sink in. Regret started sinking in. Was this really the only way? Maybe Beatra was right. Maybe I should have groveled and accepted the punishment. Could I really win against him?

"Trogan, don't you want to win another match?" Carther stepped forward.

"What would be the terms of the fight?" Trogan rolled up his sleeves.

Carther offered a glance of warning.

"If you win," I spoke slowly, "I will stay as a Beggar permanently, but if I win then we will switch positions."

Trogan eyed me.

"Anything else?" He mocked.

"And you will never touch Beatra again."

He laughed and walked up to me. His outline blocked the sun completely.

"Are you sure that is what Beatra wants?"

"This is about you and me."

His mouth twitched.

"Personally it sounds like you are getting more out of this bet than me."

I shrugged. "I thought you were the best fighter? I thought that no one could beat you in a fight? Does this mean you are worried you might lose?" A subtle smile creeped through my lips.

Trogan's eyes remained fixed on me.

"Someone go find one of the Brothers so we can make this bet known. That way you can't go back on your promise." He gestured to a random watcher to do as he suggested. "Oh, and bring the nurse too."

"Why do we need-"

Trogan's arm swung forward. A large force of pain exploded from my stomach as his fist jabbed into my gut. The air I once had was suddenly forced out. My stomach curled and my lungs burned. The throat connecting both was suddenly filled with the mixture of dust and bile as I dropped to the ground gasping and gagging. I needed to breathe. I needed to get air through. But all I could do was vomit. Through the haze and fear I could see Trogan still towering over me. I could hear his deep laugh echoing through the crowd of people that had now surrounded me. I couldn't move, even though I wanted to get up and fight back. But the pain was overwhelming. It drowned out the noise and soon left my vision blank.